Gensokyo Railway Series 6 (Helpful Engines)
by Pergold
Summary: From a lost girl, to injured youkai, even with other engines. The engines on the Gensokyo Railway are always helpful when others are in need. Even if things seem insignificant when observed.
1. Prologue

Ever since Yukari became involved with a series of railway accidents. Things have not been the same in the Yakumo household. Tension rose between Yukari and Ran, the two fought over the morality of each others actions. Yukari yelled at Ran for telling Nitori how Yukari froze the points and how she let Flandre go. Ran yelled at Yukari for how dangerous her acts were. The two argued over if mechanical youkai were living things or just machines and just that. One day, Ran caught Yukari burning evidence that would prove that she was responsible and Ran told Nitori what had happened.

Just as Ran came back, Yukari interrogated her. The two were once again fighting. This was slowly getting to Chen, who watched the two Yakumos fight. The two were just about to bring out their spell cards, when they both heard a bang and a rip.

The door that went outside had a hole in it, with some broken furniture on the other side. The two checked if anything else happened, only to find that Chen was gone.

Chen was sad to leave Yukari and Ran, but her home was falling apart at the seams. She wanted to be in a place were she could be happy, so she wandered away. Not knowing if she'll ever come back.


	2. Chen

Ichihiro and his two coaches Ani and Kuraraberu were waiting in the station in the Human Village. Ichihiro was waiting for the guard's whistle when he spotted a very tired looking youkai. The youkai was small and had cat ears and two black tails with white tips. The youkai walked up to Ichihiro and nearly passed out.

"Oh poor thing." said Ani.

"I know, she looks really tired." replied Ichihiro.

The driver invited her into Ichihiro's cab, she crouched down by the firebox and fell asleep. The guard blew his whistle and left for the next station.

"I hope we can find her someplace to be." said Kurarberu.

The train stopped at Eientei. Eientei, while some passengers came to visit, other come for medical assistance. Eirin Yagokoro made all sorts of medicines and preformed all sort of operations with Reisen, who help test new medicine. Sometimes it'd be against her own will.

The driver and firewoman brought the youkai into Kuraraberu and stayed in the guard's compartment, so she could be kept company.

Meanwhile, Ran looked all over for her shikigami.

"Chen!" she called.

"CHEN!" she would scream at times.

Tears came to her face, when the thought that Chen would be lost forever came into her head. Then, something popped into her head.

"I'll check the station in the Human Village! Someone would have seen her there." she said to herself.

Ran went up and down the platforms with s picture of her shikigami, asking anyone if they had seen her. Out of desperation, she began to ask the engines if they had seen her.

"Nope, haven't seen her before." said Akemi.

"I've seen many passengers before, but not this one." said Hiroto.

"I have been pulling trucks all day, so no." said Shiro.

Ran was beginning to feel sad, when see saw a small tank engine shunting trucks out in yard. She ran to him.

"Stop! You'll get run over!" yelled Shiro's driver.

"Have you seen her?" asked Ran asking Kiyoshi.

"Oh I have! I think went with Ichihiro to Eientei." said Kiyoshi.

Ran went off to Eientei.

The guard and the youkai talked. The youkai talked of her superiors fighting with each other and she had had enough. She also talked about what the two were talking about, even the part were one of them were involved with Kenta's crash and the destruction of the Kappa Valley depot.

"Yikes! I knew something was odd about that." said the Guard.

"Can you not tell. I don't want Yukari-shama to yell at me." the youkai began to cry at the thought of Yukari thrashing her.

Ichihiro was back at the Human Village terminus when Kiyoshi pulled up beside him.

"Ichihiro, a youkai with some fox tails came by asking if anyone seen a youkai with cat ears and two tails. Have you seen her?" said Kiyoshi.

"She goes by the name of 'Chen'."

Ichihiro was surprised.

"She's in Kuraraberu with the guard." he said.

Chen was brought out of the guard's compartment and into a room inside of the station. Later that day, the Scarlet Controller and the youkai with the fox tails came to see Ichihiro.

"Thanks for finding Chen for me!" said Ran.

"And thanks to you two." said the Scarlet Controller.

"Why thank you, sir!" said Ichihiro and Kiyoshi.

"Also, your guard told me something very important."

The Scarlet Controller suddenly looked very stern.

"That someone on our board had done something very...wrong." She said.

Ran looked surprised, if Nitori didn't tell the rest of the railway's managers, who did?

"She did, sir." said the guard, pointing to Chen.

"Well, I'll to that something will be arranged." said the Scarlet Controller, slightly unfriendly sounding.

Ran, now looking flushed, her ears perked downward, her sweat turned cold. Now that Chen told what had happened, who's to say to what would become of her safety.

"Ran, you can come live with me or Nitori, if Yukari's going to act out on either of you." said the Scarlet Controller.

"That's very generous of you Remilia. But I have a different place in mind. Somewhere Yukari won't find us." Ran replied.

Ran had looked at an atlus from the outside world and she picked a random place, away from Gensokyo or Japan for that matter. She picked an island somewhere in what was known as the 'United Kingdom'. The island was just outside a town called 'Barrow-In-Furness'.

Ran would tell Yukari and she and Chen that they would be going on 'vacation'.

The engines and youkai parted their ways, the engines were glad to help someone in need. Whilst the two other youkai were uncertain.


	3. Ichihiro and the Oni

Ichihiro enjoys his branch with his two coaches, Ani and Kurarberu. Even thought sometimes he feels bad for some of the humans and youkai that come on his trains to Eientei, sickly and injured. But he always feels good when he picks up passengers _from_ Eientei, all better and with jars of varying sizes.

Sometimes fairies would came and wave at him. But one day, they went beside the line with a red flag they fashioned out of paper and paint and bamboo shoots.

"What's wrong?" asked Ichihiro.

"Cirno didn't get enough sleep, so when he fought with our spell cards. She fell and landed really hard." said one of the fairies.

The fairy that had gotten injured had splints made of sticks and fastened with vine. The fairies boarded on Ani and Ichihiro went off to Eientei. Eirin was at the platform, when Ichihiro stopped.

"Please help this fairy! She's in Ani." said Ichihiro.

"I'll see to what's the matter." Eirin said.

The three fairies climbed out.

"Hmmm...Broken leg, broken arm. Come on, Cirno. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Ichihiro." Eirin finally said to him.

Ichihiro felt good for helping Cirno out with her aliments. Ichihiro went back to the station, after picking up his passengers.

Sometime, gangs of drunken oni would wander about at night. One night, one of them dared the other to hit the track with its kanabo as hard as it could. This left the track bent and disfigured.

Ichihiro was puffing at full steam, when he derailed on the broken track.

"Ah!" said Ichihiro in surprise.

"That's done it." said his driver.

"But who's going to take the passengers?" asked Ichihiro.

"I don't know."

Akemi took a train of worker to repair the line and rerail Ichihiro. Akemi took his passengers. Nitori was there to assess the damage.

"Looks like kanabo marks." she said, pointing to the side of one of the damaged rails.

Ichihiro continued the day, but all his were very late following the damage cause by the oni.

The next day, Ichihiro saw a youkai with a large metal club.

"That's an oni." said his driver.

"No doubt the one that wrecked the line."

As Ichihiro approached the oni, he let out one big whistle. The oni was startled and dropped her kanabo. The large club landed on her foot, the oni started cursing.

"That'll teach 'em!" said Ichihiro's driver.

"But the oni's hurt."

But there was no room on the train for the oni to ride. So the injured oni climbed on Ichihiro's cab and and sat on top of Ani.

"Hey! Watch it!" said Ani.

The oni just stared.

When Ichihiro got to Eientei, Eirin watched as the oni jumped off Ani and landed on her bad foot. The oni stood towered over Eirin and told her that she broke her foot.

"Alright...Let me see your foot." she said, leading the oni into the mansion.

Cirno walked up to Ichihiro and said thanks, she had a cast on one her right leg and her left arm.

"No problem." said Ichihiro and took Cirno away from Eientei


	4. Shiro, Hiroto, and Kenta

Hiroto was the primary engine for pulling the express, he was proud of this fact. One day he was pulling the express train to the Moriya shrine, when suddenly, WOOOSH!

Hiroto felt his train get slower and slower, steam now coming out of his cab.

"What was happened driver?" he asked.

"Your safety valve broke, we'll have to send for another engine."

Hiroto slinked onto a siding beside the line. The only engine available was Shiro and he came to push the train. He pushed the train, but it was too heavy. There was more coaches than the time he had struggled in the rain, so he only got the train to move a metre or two at best.

"Is there any other engines available?" asked Hiroto.

Nitori was checking out Kenta, repairs had moved beyond expectations and now Kenta was ready for a test run. They were just about to see if he can move on his own again, when a call came in.

"What?" Nitori said, phone in hand.

"An express train stuck on the mainline? Hiroto's safety valve broke?"

Nitori paused, looking at Kenta, then looking at the phone. An idea popped into her head.

"Hold on, tell the passengers to wait there. An available engine will be there shortly.

Nitori went up to Kenta.

"Kenta, we need to test you. But something went wrong."

"Oh dear" thought Kenta.

"A train of shrinegoers are stuck out on the mainline, think you can do it?"

Kenta was surprised. His first trip out back on the rails and its to save a train. He agreed and Nitori climbed into his cab.

The passengers were getting restless, some demanded there money back since the prices in tickets to the two shrines had increased sometime before, other complained how bad the railway was. Hiroto and Shiro were stuck with the train, that is. A whistle came from the distance, it wasn't any of the two tank engines, and it wasn't Akemi's.

"It couldn't be?!" said Shiro.

"Is it who I think he is?" Hiroto said, he was shocked at the noise.

There coming towards them was Kenta, all better from his repairs. He pulled beside the two engines.

"Your back!" said Shiro.

"How was your repairs?" asked Hiroto.

"I'll ask questions later when I go to the sheds. I hear that a train needs to be pulled." said Kenta.

The guard herded the passengers back into the train and Kenta found a set of points so he could be coupled to the train. The passengers were thrilled that the train could move again.

"My wheels still feel so stiff. My wheels still feel so stiff."

"Don't worry Kenta, that's to be expected for not running in such a long time." His driver said, Nitori was dropped off to deal with Hiroto.

"But don't push yourself too hard." the driver warned.

Kenta made up for lost time when he arrived at the shrine station. Sanae, Suwako, and Kanako were all at the station wondering why the train came so late. The passengers disembarked and thanked Kenta. Kenta took the return train.

"Nitori said she'll let me stay at the sheds, now I that I'm almost done with my testing." Kenta said that night.

The engines were glad that Kenta was back. They're more tired because they had to do more work, but were content with his return. The engines told Kenta what had happened since, such as the incident with Chen and how Hiroto ended up in a ditch. The latter made Hiroto embarrassed.

Kenta was happy now that he's back doing work, even the fairies who he had blew ash at, wave and say hi to him.


	5. Hiroto Takes a Dip

Hiroto was taking a rest at the big station.

"Sometimes, being important is so tiring at times." he said to himself.

It was Akemi's day to take the express. He backed down the coaches and was coupled up. They're by the platform next to the siding where Hiroto was resting.

"Don't come off the rails this time Akemi. Your not pulling a goods train." said Hiroto.

"Hiroto your such a...such a..." Akemi was too annoyed to finish his sentence.

Akemi pulled away the express, leaving Hiroto alone or so he thought. Kiyoshi went beside him and began to talk, he had heard the conversation from eariler.

"Are jammed whistles and burst safety valves accidents?" asked Kiyoshi cheekily.

"No, these things can happen to any engine." said Hiroto.

Before Hiroto could ask why Kiyoshi mentioned safety valves, he chuffed away. Hiroto's driver came up to him.

"Wake up Hiroto. Its time to pull a special." she said.

"Is it coaches or trucks?" Hiroto asked.

"It's trucks."

"Trucks!" said Hiroto, flabbergasted.

Hiroto's fire was slow to start, so Shiro pulled Hiroto to a nearby turntable. By the time Hiroto was shunted onto the turntable, his fire was burning nicely. But Hiroto didn't want to pull a line of dirty freight.

As the turntable moved, he tried to use his weight to jam the turntable. The turntable jammed and Hiroto moved forward, he was on an incomplete track and landed in a ditch.

"Ah!" He said.

"Get me out!"

"You can't, you silly great engine. Your stuck there." His driver told him.

The Scarlet Controller's office was in the big station. While part of her position was just ceremonial, whenever she got bored in her mansion, she'd come in and watch the trains run by a specially tinted window that kept the sunlight from reaching her. She was there when her phone rang, she picked it up.

"So Hiroto didn't want to take the special and fell in a ditch?" she talked.

"What's that you say? The special's waiting?"

She looked at a schedule of all the trains, she picked which ever one was available at the time.

"Have Shiro take the special. Hiroto? Just leave him be, I don't have time to bother with him now." she hanged up.

Some fairies were hanging out nearby.

"Coo, doesn't he look silly. Luna?"

They began to sing.

"Silly old Hiroto fell in a ditch, fell in a ditch, fell in a ditch. Silly old Hiroto fell in a ditch, all on a Monday morning."

Hiroto did feel silly. It wasn't until late when a work crew came to pull him out. Sleepers were put under him so that he wouldn't stick in the mud. Akemi and Kiyoshi pulled him out, the two engines worked hard, but at last he finally was out of the mud.

Hiroto went back to the sheds a sadder and wiser engine.


	6. Epilogue

Ran and Chen sat in a coach, both were tired since they had come halfway around the world. The train they were on passed all sorts of other engines, they were also mechanical youkai as well. Some were black, others green, at times they'd pass a blue engine. Ran didn't tell Chen why they were in the British Isles, Chen thought they were on vacation and that Yukari decided not to come.

The train stopped in a big station, they had to hide the fact they were youkai themselves, so they covered their tails and went out of the coach. Ran knew some English, definitely more than what Chen knows. She saw the engine that pulled the train, it was a big blue engine with red stripes. The engine was busy talking to a red engine who sounded a bit vain.

"Do you know any hotels?" Ran asked a porter.

"There's one down the street, there's another, but its further away." the ported said.

"Thank you." the two exited the station and headed to where one of the hotels were.

Ran didn't know how long they were going to stay or if they will have to stay permanently. As youkai and shikigami, they were weak, as they were very far away from Yukari. But they still kept their spell cards if anything happened.

They checked into their room and they both rested from their long journey, a short break from the uncertainty.


End file.
